Light Rail in Europe

"Do they just run rail service better over there?"

When referring to PASSENGER rail service, yes, they definitely do!

Passenger Rail service is exceptional in Europe,especially France,Germany,Switzerland,Austria,Belgium and the Netherlands.I have never been to the UK so Don,t know about their Rail service and Italy's is good for City to City but not rural routes,same with Spain.

Mikey

I have ridden trains and trams in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden and found you could get to remote areas by tram (Gamla Uppsala Viking burial grounds).  In GB l took the train from London to Inverness, Scotland but then had to rent a car to explore around Loch Ness.  Took the train from London to that city where the Russians were poisoned? but then had to take a bus, out in the boonies, to get to and from Stonehenge. Stood at a crossroads in farm fields to get back, and, surprise!, a bus showed up. Amazing!  You can get to Hell, Norway by train (got my passport stamped there in railroad station to prove l had been there and back)

Try some of that here.

Thanks for the responses but I am really wondering how routing is accomplished over there.  For example in Basel 4 trams came down the road, practically on top of each other, each found a different route and went on its way.  Does the operator have the ability to select a route from the cab?  Same was true in Zurich, a complete maze yet everything flowed easily with headways for each individual line in the 5-7 minute range.  Some of the ROW was in grass, none appeared to have any of the ADA platforms we like to use here but loading was virtually roll on roll off.  How do they accomplish this magic?

That's a closely guarded secret and if they told you you'd have to be banished to ride the Acela at reduced speed on very bad track every day for the rest of your life. 

Although no expert, I am broadly aware of three "automatic" ways to change the points/route:

radio/RFID transponder/induction- route is preprogrammed via computer and points altered accordingly via low power radio or induction coils as tram progresses. That is, all needed point movements associated with a specific route are made as the tram progresses and IDs itself to the system. I am not sure how much control is given to the operator. This is probably what is used in most systems today.

"necessity action" where an associated cab button changes the route via a special energized contactor if needed. This requires the operator to be aware of his/her assigned route. The points revert back to the original route after a second contactor is energized or via a timer. I assume this method is largely deprecated. I am not sure if Toronto still uses it.

"power on/off" where coasting keeps the set route, while drawing power changes the route via a relay. The operator must be aware of the assigned route as well as speed since drawing power by accelerating or stopping and starting during the "coast" section would require a manual movement of the points (or car) if the "coast" route is needed. A following car, the movement of the original car, or a timer resets the points. I assume this method is also largely deprecated.